91-92
Our Score
(1/2019) This one surprised us. We first tasted it while sitting around the dinner table with Guillaume and Kelly Gonnet at their Domaine in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It was the concentration and complexity of flavor, the refined elegance and the sheer power, all working together, that caught us off guard. Cairanne, a Southern Rhone region, received its own appellation designation in 2016, and if other bottlings perform the way this one does, you can bet prices will go up quickly. Blending 80% Grenache with 20% Syrah, all hand harvested, from 45-year-old vines grown in sand, limestone and clay, Guillaume ferments this juice with only wild yeasts. The wine gives deep red berry fruits that are both youthfully fresh and fleshy ripe, a distinction that suggests both old new school flavors. Long, with chalk-sandy earth notes, flavors of smoked herbs, cocoa and black olive, and a medium-plus tannic structure, all help lend complexity. A very interesting wine with more layers and more age-worthy than the initial tastes suggest. A very fine effort, and representative of the greatness of 2016.
